Astronomers have discovered an unexplainable spiral galaxy, leaving them puzzled. Check out the intriguing images of this cosmic mystery!

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have made an incredibly significant discovery that alters our understanding of the early Universe, particularly regarding the formation of the first spiral galaxies. It is believed that it takes billions of years for such galaxies to develop a distinct structure. However, astronomers have identified a spiral galaxy that achieved this in just one billion years. So far, astronomers cannot explain how such rapid formation of a massive galaxy occurred in the early Universe, which contradicts existing theories. The study has been published on the preprint server arXiv, reports ScienceAlert.

The galaxy discovered by astronomers belongs to the type of spiral galaxies with an organized structure. This means it has clearly defined spiral arms, a galactic disk, and a bulge, which is a protrusion above the disk where older stars reside. Thus, this galaxy closely resembles spiral galaxies that only developed such structure after billions of years of formation.

The galaxy, named "Zhulong" (after a dragon-like deity from Chinese mythology that illuminates the darkness), appeared fully formed and with an organized structure just 1 billion years after the Big Bang. In other words, astronomers observed it as it was 12.8 billion years after the birth of the Universe.

• This ancient galaxy has an enormous mass, which puzzles scientists. Its mass is approximately 100 billion times that of the Sun, making it comparable to our Milky Way galaxy. However, our galaxy took about 13 billion years to reach such a mass.
• The spiral galaxy "Zhulong" also has a vast size. Astronomers estimate its diameter to be 62,000 light-years, adding to the mystery of this object. In comparison, the Milky Way measures about 100,000 light-years across.

According to the study's authors, the rate of new star formation in this ancient galaxy is also impressive, as it exceeds that of the Milky Way. At the same time, astronomers believe that the supermassive black hole at the center of the spiral galaxy is relatively calm and does not consume much matter.

Researchers state that this new discovery indicates that fully formed spiral galaxies with organized structures appeared much earlier than previously thought. The galaxy "Zhulong" is the most distant known galaxy of this type, exhibiting well-defined individual components in its structure. The study suggests that galaxies like the Milky Way may form about ten times faster than previously believed, challenging our understanding of the early Universe.

Interestingly, spiral galaxies are very rare in the early Universe and are virtually absent during the period equivalent to 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

How such a galaxy formed so quickly and achieved enormous size and mass remains unexplained by scientists. According to astronomers, this and other discoveries indicate that researchers do not yet fully understand the processes of galaxy formation and growth. There may be unknown mechanisms for the formation of spiral galaxies that are yet to be discovered.

Astronomers intend to continue studying this distant spiral galaxy to better understand its nature and attempt to uncover how it became so massive and large much faster than most similar objects.